Ireland have to be the favourites, they've got 3 games in Dublin, including an opener vs Wales, although they have to travel to Twickenham and Paris. I suppose the flip side England have both Ireland and Wales at home, but what will they play like?

I think Ireland will struggle this year, I think they'll lose to both Wales on the opening weekend and to England at Twickenham.

I don't think Wales will win at Twickenham, that win in the World Cup was the flukiest I have seen in my life and will not happen again. They will put up a good campaign though and be in it for the title at the end which I think will come down to points difference again.

Scotland's World Cup campaign was hugely overrated. They got smashed by South Africa, just scraped a win against a poor Samoa side and conceded 5 tries in a quarter final. They will run most teams towards the latter stages and then tail off and I think they'll find themselves in 5th after losing to everyone bar Italy (and even that is a game the Italians will be targeting in Rome!).

England won't have problems against Italy and Scotland and have the advantage of facing both Ireland and Wales at Twickenham. In fact I would say England have the best chance of a grand-slam with a rejuvenated team full of players wanting to impress the new management. I have a horrible feeling it could be a case of broken hearts again with a late evening game in Paris on the last day to stop the winning run and meanwhile snatch the grand slam away.

France? Who knows. They'll probably get stuffed one week, might lose to Italy, might lose to Scotland, then they'll beat one of England, Wales or Ireland.

Italy? Sorry to say it but I think they will be the whipping boys even more so this year than years gone by, unfortunately rugby is going backwards in the country and it is time to introduce a two-tier system to give other European teams a chance.

Final prediction - England to win the Championship with everyone having lost at least once.

It is a good read JBB. Having played in both hemispheres, for me it is two completely different outlooks on how to play the game that is different. The main difference I found was the tempo at which the game is generally played in the Southern Hemisphere, not just the fact that it is played in more run-friendly conditions but more so that the coaches/players have the want to play fast. I think this has been clear when watching European sides play against Southern Hemisphere sides over the last few years, they can stick around for about 60 minutes but just can't maintain that tempo and dynamism for 80 minutes.

Really looking forward to it, my favourite annual sporting event. As i said in the other thread I have no expectations so will just enjoy it as it is. My World Cup predictions were completely wrong, so I'm not even going to try this time.

bunk wrote:Really looking forward to it, my favourite annual sporting event. As i said in the other thread I have no expectations so will just enjoy it as it is. My World Cup predictions were completely wrong, so I'm not even going to try this time.